The Gradual Week 4

1

Bit late with this one, sorry.

Summary

  1. The tour group returns to Glaund. Sandro finds the return trip tiresome and is anxious to get home, but upon arriving finds it drab. Their arrival is greeted by a squad of nervous soldiers leading a different kind of bureaucratic investigation.

  2. Sandra passes a gloomy trainride home. It's late fall weather, which he finds odd. Impressions of smog, delays, and crowds are conveyed - basically some of the worst aspects of northern urban life. Sandro finally arrives home to find Alynna missing. Both locks are locked, and there's a pile of mail behind the door. In the pile are letters threatening eviction and other unpaid bills going back 6 months. Sandro is surprised because he left things in good order and there's plenty in his bank account. However, there's something odd about the dates on the letters and account transcript.

  3. The letters reveal his parents are dead. Father died of a stroke shortly after he left. Mother died 8 months later. Alynna left the apartment a year later. All of which is odd because he's only been travelling for 9 weeks - yet 23 months of life has happened here in the meantime.

  4. Soon after his return, Alynna contacts him and comes over. She blames him for his extended absence, and explains how she waited. But she's move on now, and is living with someone else, and romantically involved. She has moved on, and says her goodbyes. His rambling, repetitive blather does nothing to move her. The very next day, the first postcard he sent arrives in the mail.

  5. All the other members of the tour have similar problems, and they form a support group. Time passes, and Sandro and the others gradually learn to deal with this time slip. During that time, Sandro becomes aware of a second And Ante album, which also plagiarizes him. Ganner, the cellist, brings this to his attention, but Sandro seems unphased. Soon their conversation drifts to the staves, and Sandro points out that the text written on them means 'Unlimited use of one person - ninety days'. They seem to have been made by an instrument maker.

  6. Soon after, another tour is proposed. Neither Sandro nor any of the other members of the original tour have an interest. But Sandro does agree to give a commencement speech at the dock before they leave. He concludes the speech by warning the tour group to use the staves exactly as instructed. Which is odd considering he doesn't really understand their use, or the consequences of of mis-using them. Ultimately, Sandro does long to be on the second tour - to see the islands again. This second tour returns on schedule after 14 weeks away.

  7. Sandro is initially unsettled by the timely return of the second tour, but eventually finds himself at peace. Eventually, he find himself at peace and these are productive times for him. He writes several new pieces which are well received, both in live an recroded versions. Yet he feels vaguely dissatisfied. And Ante is also productive, and three new albums arrive, none of which plagiarize Sandro's music. Has And Ante finally moved on? One albutm lists Ante's inspirations, and Sandro is miffed no to see his name among them. One of these albums is a film soundtrack, and Sandro is surprised to see his old friend Denn Mytrie credited as the piano player on the album.

Discussion

  • The plot seems to be thickening, and we're clearly not done with And Ante. Any speculations as to who And Ante might be? Why did he stop copying Sandro's music?
  • How significant is this temporal anomaly? It seems to have affected everyone on a personal level, but officially there's no discussion that we known of.
  • Are we getting any sense of 'The Gradual' through these chapters? Either in the musical or the sense of change Priest described in the first chapter?

Comments

  • 0

    I wasn't at all expecting the "trip to faeryland" theme to suddenly emerge, ie the loss (or maybe gain) of so much time compared to those who had stayed behind. That said, I think it was a fine twist in the plot, and enhances the "archipelago as mysterious other world" theme far more acutely than a couple of clocks not matching up in the cabin! Hopefully that idea will get explored more as we go on... in which context it is curious to note that the second party did not seem to experience anything like it.

    Briefly returning to an earlier discussion, is this a potential cause of the idea that the was has lasted more than 3000 years? Personally I don't think so as those three millennia are as recorded in the northern countries, not by soldiers travelling around - however it does raise the issue that the flow of time may well not be experienced at equal rates by everyone.

    Currently I have no speculations as to who And Ante might be! Although he is not currently using Sandro's material, I wonder if he is plagiarising other people to rattle their cages, and Sandro just doesn't realise this?

    Also currently I am not getting any sense of The Gradual in the technical musical sense (though it was mentioned once in an earlier chapter). But the book is certainly gradual in the everyday sense - and I don't write this as a criticism, as I think the story is benefiting from the slow buildup.

  • 1
    Apologies for being late here: life has been hectic recently.

    So now we know some of the tragedy to befall Sandro, bit it seems to be one he got over quickly. There's no mention of his wife after his return, and no mention of any human contact after that. Sandro seems to be alone in the world, even if he's not lonely.

    He has no friends, his music is underappreciated, even And Ante has abandoned him. Sandro seemingly has no connection to anyone or anything.
  • 1

    @NeilNjae said:
    There's no mention of his wife after his return, and no mention of any human contact after that. Sandro seems to be alone in the world, even if he's not lonely.

    He has no friends, his music is underappreciated, even And Ante has abandoned him. Sandro seemingly has no connection to anyone or anything.

    He meets with Ganner for a friendly drink, forms a support group for musicians out of time that presumably meets regularly. His music continues to be highly regarded and he performs concerts. He's even invited on a second tour, for which he gives a commencement speech. He's clearly still connected to his music community, and still considers Denn Mytrie his friend, however distant he may be.

  • 1

    @Apocryphal said:

    He meets with Ganner for a friendly drink, forms a support group for musicians out of time that presumably meets regularly. His music continues to be highly regarded and he performs concerts. He's even invited on a second tour, for which he gives a commencement speech. He's clearly still connected to his music community, and still considers Denn Mytrie his friend, however distant he may be.

    The support group drifts apart, he's not excited by the reception of his music, he does a few perfunctory formal events but forms no connections with people afterwards. Mytrie is a case in point: someone fondly remembered, but very distant and with no contact for years.

    It sounds like a person who's drifting through life, doing what's expected, but not connecting deeply or emotionally with anything. It's similar to depression, in that there's little excitement or enthusiasm in his life.

  • 0

    On thing I keep having to make myself remember is the very long timespan of this book. We have been used to stories that are over in a few days, possibly with flashbacks to an earlier time. This one is quite literally decades long - we are only about 1/3 of the way through and Sandro is already in his 50s. Quite long spans of his life seem to have gone by with nothing to remark about them.

    So although I can see the points @Apocryphal is making, I'm more inclined to agree with @NeilNjae that he is just drifting, and seems to have no real purpose to his life. He's just marking time - maybe an analogy to the way time dragged or changed during his archipelago trip?

    So... will the remaining 2/3 be filled with dramatic events in a much shorter span of time?

  • 1

    I knew those two clocks would be nightmares for me! Magical realism strikes again.

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